Ultrasound imaging for needle placement in various medical procedures is well known, particularly for peripheral nerve blocks wherein a drug is delivered to a target site within a patient via a catheter. With such procedures, an ultrasound probe is used to identify the target region and to provide an image of needle advancement to the target region. Once location of the needle tip within the target region is verified, the drug may be delivered through the needle. In certain procedures where long-term or continuous drug delivery is needed, the physician advances an infusion catheter through the needle so that the tip of the catheter is also placed in the target region. The needle may then be removed and drug delivery commenced through the catheter.
A drawback associated with the conventional ultrasound imaging system and procedure is that the physician generally uses one hand to hold and manipulate the ultrasound probe against the patient, while the other hand is used to guide the needle to the identified target region. Once the needle tip has been placed and verified within the target region, the physician must hold the needle as steady as possible. A separate assistant must then use a delivery device (e.g., a syringe) to inject the drug through the needle, or to thread a catheter through the needle, while the physician holds the needle steady and controls the ultrasound probe. This procedure is tedious, cumbersome, and requires multiple persons.
Devices have been suggested to aid the physician by locking or immobilizing the needle relative to the ultrasound probe. Reference is made, for example, to U.S. Patent Application Publication 2010/0041990 published on Feb. 18, 2010; Patent Application Publication 2010/0312121 published on Dec. 9, 2010; and International Publication No. WO 2013/019806 published on Feb. 7, 2013. These devices, however, may be problematic in certain procedures in that they do not allow for independent control and manipulation of the needle remote from location of the ultrasound probe.
A device that allows the physician to hold an introducer needle remote from the ultrasound probe and steady within a target region while simultaneously advancing a catheter through the needle with a single hand would be desirable. The present invention provides such a device.